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Our Blogs The BeerFiles Wal-Mart: 2008 not year of Linux desktop - sub-notebook maybe
Our Blogs The BeerFiles Wal-Mart: 2008 not year of Linux desktop - sub-notebook maybe | Wal-Mart: 2008 not year of Linux desktop - sub-notebook maybe |
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| by Stan Beer | |
| Thursday, 13 March 2008 | |
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Page 1 of 2 The whole thing was packaged together with a pre-configured version of Ubuntu, called gOS, which included a host of installed clickable applications such as Mozilla Firefox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Wikipedia, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xing Movie Player, RhythmBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3. The idea was that you got a plug and play desktop PC that any consumer could use without having to pay Apple Mac prices. Unfortunately, as far as in-store sales at Wal-Mart are concerned, the Everex gPC has turned out to be a monumental flop and pundits, Linux advocates and conspiracy theorists alike are looking for reasons why. One of the inevitable conspiracy theories is that Wal-Mart never really took the gPC seriously and only put up a poor half hearted sales effort. It's hard to see why this would be the case - a major retailer doesn't devote valuable shelf and floor space to a product unless it seriously believes it can move it. Another theory is that both Everex and Wal-Mart made a mistake in offering the gPC without a monitor in the package. There could be something to this, although it would be hard to imagine the gPC being on display in any store without a monitor attached showing off its features. In the US, like many other countries, PCs are often if not usually sold without monitors. Consumers generally understand that a monitor costs extra. A third theory is that many of the pre-packaged applications on gPC, like Skype, require a fast Internet connection, which budget conscious consumers could not afford. But isn't that case with any PC these days? If you want to surf the net, download video clips, chat online via a messaging program and so on, you need a reasonable Internet connection. This is a full-blown desktop PC we're talking about and it is 2008 not 1998. So after all the above arguments are dismissed, what are we left with? |
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